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There are an apple and a banana. Therefore, there are two kinds of fruit. In this case, is saying ‘there are two apple and banana’ technically fine?

It's a great way to give back to these man and women, as well as their families. - Huffington Post

In this case, ‘these’ is used, that is, ‘A and B’ is considered as a plural. Moreover, ‘A and B’ is used with ‘are’, does it mean ‘A and B’ is plural and it should be used with ‘two’ or numbers meaning more than two?

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    One apple and one banana are two fruits.
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented Jun 26, 2021 at 5:47
  • @Mari-Lou A ‘One apple and banana’ is correct?
    – user138878
    Commented Jun 26, 2021 at 6:06
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    It's a bit ambiguous, it could refer to a dish, e.g "One apple and banana [dessert/milkshake]"
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented Jun 26, 2021 at 6:09
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    The quotation from the Huffington Post looks like a typo for these men and women.
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Jun 26, 2021 at 7:18
  • 1
    It's not clear what you're driving at here. If The Huffington Post said, "...these man and women," it's a typographical error. That said, one could say, "There are two apple and two banana," or, "There are two apple and a banana," like in the context of responding to someone saying, "I'm doing an inventory for restocking, so please tell me what and how many bottles of liqueur we have left in the cooler," the words "apple" and "banana" being adjectives modifying "liqueur" and/or "liqueurs," thus the nouns they modify have been left unstated but nonetheless remain implied.
    – Benjamin Harman
    Commented Jun 26, 2021 at 18:06

1 Answer 1

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It is grammatically incorrect. "Apple" is here being used as a countable noun, so it should be plural, "apples":

There are two apples and a banana.

The numeral "two" modifies the noun "apples". It tells you how many apples, not how many pieces of fruit.

The phrase "an apple and an banana" might also be plural; there are two items.

There are an apple and a banana.

However you will also read

There is an apple and a banana.

THis is understood as "there is an apple and there is a banana", which has the same meaning.

The quote from the Huff Post is a typo. It should have been "... these men and women"

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